


Our Promises

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Langst, M/M, Memory Loss, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Pre-Kerberos Shance, shance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:55:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Shiro forgot all about his relationship with Lance after he went missing on the mission to Kerberos, dispute the promises that they made to each other. Maybe his ring would remind him of what he lost.





	Our Promises

Early on in their adventure, Lance decided that living on the Castle ship was hard. Being in Voltron was hard. Others may have thought it was because their lives were in constant danger or the fact that they had to be away from their loved ones. For Lance, it was the exact opposite. He had someone that he loved on the team already. Except, he didn’t remember who he was.

When he saw Takashi being pulled out of that ship, it felt like there was light in his life again. He didn’t care that he was being guarded by members of the Garrison. He didn’t care that there was another person going in after him. All he cared about was getting his boyfriend out of that tent and back into his arms.

All he wanted to do when they were flying over the desert sand was cradle Takashi in his arms and never let go. He couldn’t though, they promised that they would decide when the time was right together. Besides, it wasn’t about him in that moment, all that mattered was getting away from the Garrison.

Still watching him while he was unconscious made him realize how much he missed the other man and how much it hurt when he was away. He had so many things to ask him, so much to talk about. His gaze had landed on his prosthetic arm with sad eyes and noticed that his promise ring was gone; the one that matched his own.

Takashi had given it to him the night before he left for Kerberos and slid it on his right hand.

“These are a promise that I will come back to you safely and when we reunite I want to switch them to our left hands for a new kind of promise,” he said when Lance asked for an explanation.

He wasn’t going to lie. He cried after Takashi had said that and clung to him for hours before he could let go. The months after that, every time he would hear about the Kerberos disaster or someone defaming Takashi, he would look down at his ring and try not to cry.

Just standing over him, seeing him in (relatively) one piece took the weight right off of his shoulders. He couldn’t wait for him to wake up and wrap him up in a hug.

“I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?”

It was a complete punch to the gut. He couldn’t even move for a few seconds as he held out his hand for Lance to shake. This couldn’t be happening. After everything that they went through, after everything that they gave to each other. He didn’t remember who he was? He wanted so badly to wrap his arms around him and tell him who he was. Tell him how much he loved him. He couldn’t though. It wasn’t exactly like he could tell him that they were in a relationship when it seemed like he remembered everything else about his life.

With a small smile, he grasped Takashi’s hand.

That day, Takashi turned into Shiro.

Even though he convinced himself that everything was for the best, he never took off his ring. Considering that rings were really common among humans, none of the other paladins ever asked him about his ring. Allura and Coran however, were not too familiar with the concept since their jewelry seemed to be for translation purposes only.

“Someone very special gave it to me, and I hope that one day they’ll come back to me,” he said softly, gazing down fondly at it.

“I’m sure that you will Lance,” Allura said with a smile.

“Thanks, Allura but I’m not really sure about that,” Lance replied. Although he said it with a smile, she could see the sadness on his face.

* * *

It was strange to see the difference between this Shiro and the Takashi that he loved. He was more serious and withdrawn than before. He didn’t like to let anyone get very close to him, not even Keith from what he could tell. The biggest difference though; was the fact that Shiro didn’t really like him all that much.

At first, he thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him, punishing him for not coming clean to Shiro the moment he woke up. Although, as the weeks passed, it was easy to tell. He was much harsher on Lance than anyone else, berating him for mistakes that he made that the others made as well. He would sigh at Lance’s suggestions and dismiss them without a thought. He even went out of his way to avoid the blue paladin when they weren’t doing training or going on a mission. Lance wasn’t one to take that though. Shiro didn’t know what he had given up for him and he wasn’t about to be treated this way because of it.

Much like the first time they met, Lance marched up to the black paladin after the rest of the group had left training and poked his finger into his chest. Startled, Shiro looked down to lock eyes with a fuming Lance.

“You listen to me and you listen well Takashi Shirogane because I’m going to say this once,” He started.

“Just because you think you have me all figured out doesn’t mean you can treat me like I don’t really matter. You know nothing about me or what I’m capable of. You don’t get to look down on me because you think that I’m not worth the time of day. I’m just as important as anybody else on this team and I expect for you to start acting like it. I have feelings too, it’s not something that I can just laugh off. The way I act out of uniform in no way reflects how I perform so start showing some simple decency,” with every point he would poke Shiro in the chest, making him wince and blink wide eyes down at him. By the end of it, he was looking down at the ground with an ashamed expression on his face. He glanced at Lance’s still angry face before averting his eyes again.

“You’re right Lance, I shouldn’t have just assumed things like that, I’m really sorry,” he said rubbing the back of his neck. Lance humphed and gave a single nod.

“Good, you’re forgiven, don’t let it happen again though,”

“This might be a weird thing to ask, but has this happened before?” Shiro hesitantly asked. Lance’s eyes snapped open.

“This is how we met Shiro,” he decided to answer truthfully. It’s not like it would give anything away since they would have been in the Garrison together for years before the Kerberos mission.

“What? We met before?” He asked baffled. Lance laughed and nodded his head.

“Pretty much the exact same thing happened. You were a teaching assistant in one of my piloting courses and you didn’t think that I was taking the lessons seriously and that it wasn’t worth answering my questions or calling on me and stuff, I pretty much did the exact same thing as today,” he explained with a smile. Shiro blinked and put his hand up to his head in shock.

“You didn’t doubt me again after that,”

“Wow, I had no idea, I would definitely remember something like that though,” he said in shock.

“Shiro, you went through something incredibly traumatic, I’m not surprised that you lost some of your memories,” Lance said kindly, reaching up to put his hand on Shiro’s arm. He only nodded his head slightly and gave him a small smile.

“Well, I promise that I’ll be better from now on,”

“I don’t doubt that,” he said before he spun around and walked out of the door.

Shiro watched him go before looking down at his clenched hand. If he forgot something like that, what else was he missing? When he went through his memories, it didn’t seem like he was forgetting anything and he doubted that Lance would lie about something as trivial as meeting him before. He thought Lance looked familiar when he first woke up in Keith’s cabin and he didn’t really have an explanation as to why he knew Lance’s name before shaking his hand.

He let out a long sigh before leaving the training room. It wasn’t something that he had to worry about at the moment. All of the important things he remembered. Right?

* * *

It got much better after that. They were talking, working together, and becoming better friends. To Lance, it was almost like they were back in the Garrison, able to talk to each other about anything and goof around like they were little kids again. He tried so hard not to be hurt when he saw how close he and Allura were getting. He wasn’t sure whether they had feelings for each other or if they were just becoming better friends. It was the not knowing that really got to him. Shiro wasn’t giving any details either but the little blush he got whenever Lance teased him about it told the whole story.

He wasn’t about to get in the way either. He hadn’t told him not only because it would be hard to believe but also so he could get a do-over. This was his chance to find someone that was better for him. Someone that was better than Lance. He might know how he compared to the others on the team but when it came to their relationship, he knew that Shiro deserved better than some washed out ex-cargo pilot.

* * *

It all came to head when Pidge brought Matt back with her. He was different; taller and scarred but he still had the same wide friendly smile on his face. When she radioed in that she had gotten back and requested that they meet in the lounge, he expected to see some kind of lead to where Matt or Sam was. He didn’t expect to see Matt in the middle of hugging Shiro. His jaw dropped as a near-silent gasp escaped his throat. At the sound, Matt’s eyes slid to him and they widened.

“Lance?” He asked in shock. “Oh my god! Lance!” He cried in joy, escaping from Shiro and running over to Lance to engulf him in a hug.

“Matt, holy shit,” he said quietly, clutching on to the back of his clothes. Matt was the only one that knew about them at the Garrison and they became very good friends because of it. He didn’t think that he would ever get to see him again.

“I didn’t know you knew each other, how did you guys meet?” Shiro asked coming to stand beside them.

“Ha ha, very funny Shiro,” Matt smiled releasing Lance and ruffling his hair.

“Um, what?” Shiro asked in confusion. Matt’s grin faded as he stared at Shiro.

“Do you not remember?” He asked as his forehead creased. Shiro only blinked in response, not sure what to reply.

“Oh my god, you don’t remember do you?” He looked over at Lance for confirmation. He only shook his head sadly while Matt let out a small gasp.

“What are you talking about? What don’t I remember?” He asked frantically looking between the two of them.

“One of the rebels gave this to me, in case I ever saw the “Champion” again, maybe it will help,” he suggested solemnly, pulling something out of his pouch and placing it in Shiro’s hand. Shiro looked down and his eyes widened. The ring was exactly the same as the one around Lance’s finger except for the size. He looked up, meeting Lance’s eyes and saw them swimming with tears.

“No,” he muttered in disbelief. He saw Lance’s eyebrows furrow in hurt confusion.

“NO!” he repeated louder before running from the lounge, the sound of several voices calling out his name followed behind him, Lance’s louder than all of the others. He wasn’t sure how long he ran before he was stopped by a strong hand. He looked back as he was wrenched to a stop and saw Coran standing with a concerned expression on his face.

“Coran! You have to help me! I need to remember!” He said frantically latching onto Coran’s shirt.

“Are you sure? Those memories might be damaging to your psyche,” he said in concern. Shiro shook his head.

“Please! I’m missing so much!” He cried. His head curled toward’s Coran’s chest as tears rolled over his nose. Coran’s expression softened and he reached up to hug Shiro’s head to his chest.

“Alright my boy, we’ll see what we can do,” he agreed before escorting him to the med bay and having him sit down on one of the beds. As Coran rooted around, Shiro tried to wipe away his tears. He didn’t know what to do, he was so confused. He looked down at the ring still in his hand. He always thought that the ring Lance wore was familiar to him but to know that he was the person that gave it to him, that was something else entirely.

He looked up when he heard Coran stop in front of him. He held out one of the mind meld headbands out to him. He took it with a look of confusion but didn’t ask any questions.

“Its a different type of mind meld, it boosts your ability to remember previously repressed memories,” Coran explained pulling up a holoscreen beside the bed. Shiro nodded and pulled it over his forehead.

“If at any time you become uncomfortable or you need to take a break just press this button,” he instructed pushing a hologram closer to Shiro.

“You’re not staying?” He asked sounding incredibly young to his own ears.

“I’ll be right outside when you’re finished, call me if you run into trouble,” he said softly before walking outside. Shiro stared at the door before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. When he opened them again, it looked like he traveled back to Black’s mindscape again.

“Okay, let’s do this,” he muttered to himself. He opened his hand to make sure that he still had it, but his eyes started travelling along the metal of it instead.

“LET ME GO!” A voice screamed. His head whipped up and he scuttled back at the scene in front of him. No. He didn’t want to remember this.

“Do did this when you threw the fight Champion, you’re lucky that Zarkon is letting you live,” Haggar hissed as one of the druid’s knives started carving through the flesh of his arm. His agonized screams echoed loudly in his mind and he could only focus on the changing expressions on his face. His hands came up to cover his ears as the screaming grew louder. With a dull thump, the noise came to a stop and he looked up again.

His body laid limply on the cot and he stared blankly at the ceiling above him. He didn’t realize how dead he looked while he was captured. He looked like he was about to give up and keel over right then. He saw his eyes slide down to look at the floor where his arm was laying on the floor. Its like they left it there to taunt him. Even as he stared at the limb his eyes seemed to light up slightly and he started pushing himself up weakly. Confused, Shiro looked at the limb as well and noticed the ring glinting slightly in the dim light of the room. He flopped to the floor and struggled to take the ring off of the finger. He felt like fainting. It was like he was in somebody else’s body. He held the ring tightly to his chest and curled up on his side.

“I’ll come back to you,” he promised before letting out a loud sob and he burst into tears.

Shiro backed away from the scene and froze when he bumped into something. He turned slightly and froze when the face of one of his past opponents growled in his face. He jumped back and suddenly the sound of a roaring crowd filled his ears. He frantically looked around himself. He was back in the arena.

The creature in front of him let out a loud roar and swiped it’s claws at him. He stumbled back clutching at the bridge of his nose. It had cut straight through the cartilage. He jumped to his feet and started running, hearing and feeling the loud, heavy stomps follow behind him.

He had almost died because of this fight. He was the closest to giving up during this fight. This fight is what gave him his white hair.

Tears rushed down his face as terror overcame him. He could hear the jeers in the audience. The loud growls and roars that came from the monster behind him. His own heartbeat echoing in his ears as he ran for his life. His lungs burned with the effort to keep running; he knew that if he stopped his legs would give out from underneath him and he would be killed instantly.

“I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this,” he started chanting, gasping for air between words. This was a mistake, he couldn’t do this. He shouldn’t have asked Coran for help. His hand reached towards the panic button.

“I can’t do this, I can’t do this,” he sobbed, clenching his eyes shut.

“You can do it, babe!” He froze at the cheerful voice. When he opened his eyes, everything was white. He slowly turned around and there they were. Him and Lance; sitting on the couch in his quarters at the Garrison, playing on his game system. Lance was leaning against his shoulder, cheering him on as he fought against a boss.

“Thanks, beautiful,” he chuckled as he delivered the final hit. Lance let out a cheer and wrapped his arms around his waist. He let out a laugh and turned towards it and buried his face in Lance’s hair with a sigh of happiness.

“I love you Takashi,” Lance smiled, his face popping up to face his. He passed the controller over to Lance and wrapped his arm around his waist to keep him close to his side.

“I love you too Lance,”

At that admission, everything rushed into his head. Their first date after he had found Lance sneaking out to town after curfew, their first kiss in a small café on the outskirts of town where no one knew who they were, their tearful goodbyes when they went home for their breaks. Every pet name, every tear, every sleepless night, every good and bad day they’ve ever had, came back to him.

His hands came up to cover his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks. How could he have forgotten someone like Lance? How could he have forgotten someone that means so much to him?

His hand reached out and pushed down on the panic button. With a jolt, he was back sitting on the med bay’s bed like none of it was real. The tears on his face were real though, and the new warmth in his heart was as well. He pulled the headband off of his head in a rush and threw it down on the bed. He almost fell as he flew out of the med bay, nearly running over Coran in his haste to get to the lounge.

“Lance!” He cried as he burst in. He looked around wildly, it seemed that nobody left since he ran out of the room. His eyes landed on the teen, who was peeking out at him from where he was in Matt’s arms. He stumbled over to him, tears still falling freely from his eyes and collapsed to his knees in front of him. His arms lifted up to wrap around his legs and hug them to his chest.

“I’m so sorry Lance, I can’t believe I forgot you, I’m the worst person in the whole galaxy,” he sobbed looking up at Lance. With a wail, Lance joined him on the floor and cuddled into his chest. They didn’t notice Matt motion for the others to follow him out, too wrapped up in each other.

“I love you so much,” he cried nuzzling into Lance’s hair.

“I love you too,” Lance pressed his face in the crook of Shiro’s neck, slowly breathing in and out. After a few minutes, Lance pulled away and took Shiro’s face in his hands.

“God I’ve missed your ugly crying face,” Lance said giving him a wobbling smile. Shiro let out a watery chuckle.

“Yeah, it’s not fair that you’re beautiful even when you’re crying,” Lance’s face turned red and he quickly hid his face in Shiro’s shoulder.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?” He asked peeking his head up to Shiro.

“Will you let me keep my promise?” He asked.

“Wha-?” He started, pulling away from his shoulder when his eyes caught on the ring Shiro was holding up between his fingers.

“Really?” He asked in amazement, staring into Shiro’s eyes.

“Of course,” was all he said before he was taking off Lance’s ring and holding up his left hand instead. With a final nod from Lance, he slipped it onto his ring finger. He brought the hand up to his lips and laid a kiss on his knuckles. Lance could feel Shiro’s tears on his skin as they continued to slip of his cheeks.

“Give me your ring,” he said holding his hand out for it. He dropped it in Lance’s palm and let him slip it onto his finger.

“These rings aren’t just a promise for our future anymore,” Lance stated holding Shiro’s hand in both of his. “These are a reminder of our resilience and what we overcame in order to be together again,”

Shiro silently nodded and curled into himself. Lance’s arms protectively went around him as Shiro’s head pushed against his chest.

“I got you, babe, I’m here for you,” he said quietly rubbing up and down Shiro’s back. They stayed curled up on the floor of the lounge for hours, just content to be back in each other’s arms.

That day Shiro turned back to Takashi.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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